628 LOUIS AGASSTZ, 



de Janeiro, — an economy of fifteen thousand 

 francs at the start. Yesterday evening I re- 

 ceived a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, 

 at Washington, desiring the officers of all ves- 

 sels of war stationed along the coasts I am to 

 visit, to give me aid and support in every- 

 thing concerning my expedition. The letter 

 was written in the kindest terms, and gratified 

 me the more because it was quite unsolicited. 

 I am really touched by the marks of sympa- 

 thy I receive, not only from near friends, but 

 even from strangers. ... I seem like the 

 spoiled child of the country, and I hope God 

 will give me strength to repay in devotion to 

 her institutions and to her scientific and intel- 

 lectual development, all that her citizens have 

 done for me. 



I am forgetting that you will be anxious to 

 know what special work I propose to do in 

 the interest of science in Brazil. First, I hope 

 to make large collections of all such objects 

 as properly belong in a Museum of Natural 

 History, and to this end I have chosen from 

 among the employees of our Museum one rep- 

 resentative from each department. My only 

 regret is that I must leave Alex, in Cambridge 

 to take care of the Museum itself. He will 

 have an immense amount of work to do, for 



